…a culmination of the synthetic and the organic – the incredible sound of Valgeir Sigurðsson.
Newly released is Kvika, the latest album from Icelandic composer, Valgeir Sigurðsson.
Used as his score to the recent Slovak film by Peter Magat - Malá Ríša (“Little Kingdom”), it is now out as written on the composer’s own Bedroom Community label, performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra, The University Choir Technik, and a number of the composer’s close collaborators from previous projects, including violinist Daniel Pioro and viola da gamba player Liam Byrne.
'Kvika' is the Icelandic word for magma – the molten mantle of the earth that sits below Iceland in giant reserves, prehistoric reservoirs of heat simmering away beneath stoic, frozen landscapes. This record is formed from 21 thoughtful musical stills, isolated feelings captured in sound in which low end modular synth manipulation on a tectonic scale pulses and moves swiftly to underpin Pioro's soaring solo violin and Valgeir’s cinematic arrangements. The sound is experimental, utterly beautiful, and unmistakably his.
'… the acoustic soarings of the violin rise on the molten fumes of rumbling lava. The separation of the frequencies is too important to ignore. Come just a step too close and you may set afire in the low depths of the analogue sub-oscillator. Fly up too high, and get caught up in the chilly breeze of strings so fragile, you may lose your balance. This is Icelandic climate, after all, an island warmed by volcanic activity. The sonic reflection thereof is a culmination of the synthetic and the organic – the incredible sound of Valgeir Sigurðsson.'
Headphonecommute, 19 March 2021
'In a world that can give the impression of having left organic matter and acoustic sound behind, it is a privilege to hear Valgeir´s use of strings that sing with such an improvised and raw quality.'
Daniel Pioro